Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My Department has policy responsibility for the public spending code, which sets out for Departments and State bodies in comprehensive terms, the analytical framework for value for money appraisal and evaluation of public expenditure programmes and projects.Under the code, responsibility for conducting value for money reviews lies in the first instance with the lead spending Department and its implementing agency. The main role of my Department in this respect is to provide direct guidance and assistance to line Departments in the carrying out of those reviews.

Over the past five years, my Department has carried out a range of evaluations and produced several policy analysis reviews, known as focused policy assessments. Rather than list them all, I refer the Deputy to the website of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, igees.gov.ie/publications. This is a new service, which I set up under the auspices of my Department, to do exactly the type of evaluation to which the Deputy referred. The work includes two comprehensive reviews of expenditure in 2011 and 2014 and specific expenditure analysis papers related to such areas as climate change, demographics, labour market activation and child care.

The Deputy will also be aware that in July 2015, the Government agreed a new three-year programme of value for money reviews across Departments which will ensure public spending is subject to continued ongoing analytical scrutiny. This review programme, which provides for more than 40 separate reviews, will be supported by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service. This service is not only sited in my Department. As they are trained, members of the service are being placed in all Departments.

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